Dazzling Circus; Embrace Peace and Darkness Within Thy Heart 2020

Takashi Murakami created this world of smiling flowers and skulls, a dazzling surface that makes you want to look closer. Just imagine him in his studio, surrounded by all this color, building up layer upon layer of these almost cartoonish figures. What's he thinking as he repeats these motifs, these happy flowers with their simple outlines and the skulls lurking amongst them? I feel like I'm looking at some kind of emotional landscape. The bright colours, the smooth surfaces, the sheer density of it all. I can't help thinking of artists like Warhol and Lichtenstein, who also played with repetition, and appropriated imagery. Murakami is clearly in conversation with them, taking pop art in his own direction. It's like he is saying: underneath the surface of happiness there is always darkness, and vice versa. This piece reminds me that artists are constantly talking to each other, borrowing ideas, pushing boundaries, and finding new ways to see the world.